Top Cyber Security Safety Tips from the Experts

Cyber Security is crucial for any business. Hackers, viruses, and other dangerous applications are always active threats to your company’s sensitive information and productivity. According to Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), 58% of data breach victims are categorized as small businesses. We’ve gathered safety tips that, combined with professional Managed Security Services and an Advanced Firewall, should keep your business up and running.

Password Security

“The use of default or easily guessable passwords is as envogue as tight rolling your jeans. Stop it—in fact passwordsregardless of length or complexity are not sufficient on theirown. No matter who administers your POS environment(whether in-house or outsourced) they should be required touse two-factor authentication.” Verizon DBIR 2018

It’s time to stop putting passwords on Post-It notes! Password security is one of the first lines on defense for your IT infrastructure. You can have the best firewall, anti-virus, and DDoS protection available, but weak password security will render your information vulnerable. Have strong, complex passwords with numbers, mixed case letters, and symbols. Two Factor Authentication, verifying your identity with more than just a password, is quickly becoming a standard in cyber security. It might take a little longer to access your information, but optimal password security is an excellent defense against data breaches.

E-Mail Security

“Both phishing attacks and miscellaneous errors begin withyour staff. Make sure that you conduct regular security trainingto lessen the effectiveness the former and have routinesecurity audits to protect against the latter.” Verizon DBIR 2018

One of the most common ways that data can be breached is my user error when it comes to E-mail Phishing. Attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated to the point where a phishing scam can resemble an E-mail from a client or fellow employee. First, always double check the recipient’s E-mail address. Just because the name may be someone that you know doesn’t mean it is their correct address. Second, always truly look over the E-mail that you have receive. Small hints may reveal it is an automated scam such as spelling mistakes, not addressing you by name, or lack of a signature below their message. If you do receive an E-mail scam, contact your IT service provider immediately. You never know who else in your office received a similar attack.

Data Security

“Keep highly sensitive and secret data separated from the restof your network. Restrict access to it to only those individualswho absolutely require it to do their jobs. Even then, monitorthat access routinely to make sure the data is not beingcopied, moved or accessed in a suspicious manner. Verizon DBIR 2018

Proper tiers of security are integral to protecting your data from breaches. Different types of information, like financial information, may not be relevant to certain positions in your organization. Those positions who require sensitive information on a daily basis should keep tabs on who is accessing that information an how often.

DATA BREACHES CAN HAPPEN TO BUSINESSES OF ANY SIZEDON’T MISS OUT ON INFORMATION THAT CAN PROTECT YOUR DATA.

If your company is like many organizations, your IT infrastructure progressed over time, trying to keep up with the pace of your business. Without the right kind of IT planning and careful technology management all along, your technical environment probably has gaps.

VISN-IT provides comprehensive assessments of both IT infrastructure and IT operations. Our IT infrastructure assessments evaluate all major infrastructure components, including servers, storage networks, security, desktop infrastructure, end-device hardware and applications. Our IT operations assessments evaluate critical operational areas, such as IT strategic planning, IT staffing, IT operational processes, IT governance, IT vendor management and IT support.

CALL 718-227-5500 NOW TO TALK TO A TECHNICIAN AND FIND OUTIF A NETWORK ASSESSMENT IS RIGHT FOR YOU.